1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwaves with built-in exhaust systems on the underside, and their installation above a cook top having a plurality of heating elements, ranges or burner tops, and more particularly to a removable hood extension securable to the underside of the microwave which captures fumes, smokes and other gases generated from cooking on the front burners of the cook top, and directs such captured fumes, smoke and odors to the fan and filter, which are incorporated on the underside of the microwave oven.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional ovens be they electric or gas, have a plurality of electric or gas burners on their upper surface. This upper surface is referred to as the cook top. In some instances the cook top is installed in a countertop independent of an oven, the oven being located in another portion of the cabinetry. The cook top is normally installed with an overhanging hood and fan assembly in order to capture fumes, smoke, and the like, generated from cooking on the burners located on the cook top. Depending on the orientation within the kitchen and its relationship to an inner wall or an outer wall, the hood assembly might have a filter and fan which capture and direct the fumes and smoke or the like out of an aperture in the outer wall of the building to the ambient atmosphere. More commonly the cook top abuts an internal wall and the hood could be incorporated with its own filters and recirculating exhaust fan for capturing the smoke and fumes, the internal filters being changed intermittently by the homeowner. In either instance, the hood assembly normally extends outwardly so as to be in a position to capture the smoke and/or fumes from not only the rear, but the front burners of the conventional cook top.
The advent and popularity of microwave technology has resulted in microwaves being designed to fit on the wall in the cabinet gap between the cabinets and over the conventional oven and associated cook top or a stand alone cook top. Since space is limited, the conventional hood and fan unit has been eliminated, but microwave oven manufacturers having incorporated a fan and filter mechanism on the underside of the microwave oven unit have not provided any hood structure. This type of microwave oven is referred to in the trade as “microwave over the range”. Hereafter, any reference herein to a microwave or microwave oven will be understood to refer to a “microwave over the range”.
This microwave oven unit only extends approximately three inches beyond the front face of the cabinets, and therefore the fan and filter assembly does not extend over the front burners of conventional cook top, as did the hood and fan unit of the prior art. As a result, fumes, smoke, and possibly grease, generated from cooking on the front burners is free to extend upwardly and settle on the front face of the microwave oven and any cabinetry above the microwave, as well as any cabinetry immediately abutting the microwave oven on either side. Therefore, there has been a need for a removable hood assembly which can be easily attached and removed from a microwave oven, which hood assembly provides an extension over the front burners of the cook top and will capture and direct the fumes, smoke, etc., generated while cooking on the front burners to the fan and filter mechanism on the underside of the microwave oven.